Leave your baggage in Bangkok
Posted on 07. Apr, 2011 by lauratyrer in South Africa
During the Bangkok United Nations international climate change negotiations this week, the South African ambassador remarked that the lack of progress at the intercessional could be attributed to a ‘nervousness to recede back to an area of mistrust’, and added that the current situation is ‘more a case of avoiding rupture rather than one of polarisation’. Either way, I think the message negotiators need to hear is this: Leave your baggage in Bangkok!
The past week of negotiations has been fraught with political baggage. Meeting for the first time since Cancun, at the first in a series of intercessional meetings for this year, negotiators have spent most of their time thus far trying to agree on an agenda, nevermind any actual negotiating. The week is almost over and they’ve yet to begin the task of beginning to operationalize the Cancun agreements, which is what they’re in Bangkok to do.
Early in the week, workshops around mitigation highlighted some of the key issues, including the inadequate emission reduction pledges of developed countries, the often ambitious actions of developing countries and technology mechanisms required for mitigation.
While these workshops managed to highlight a few fairly obvious issues, one such being that current emission reduction pledges bring us nowhere near the acknowledged 2 degree limit, or the even lower required-by-science targets to avoid runaway climate change, the stalemate around the agenda reminds me again of how out-of-touch this process is with its purpose. After all, setting aside the rights of the planet, biodiversity and other species, climate change negotiations are ultimately about the survival of people.
So perhaps the time is right to remind negotiators who they’re negotiating for, and what better way than to introduce the ‘People’s COP’ planned for Durban later in the year.
South African government has made it clear that COP17 will represent people, particularly those most vulnerable to climate change – the people of Africa. Perhaps a COP that speaks to African issues and priorities will put a face the negotiations that will pull parties out of their political agendas and towards a climate treaty that achieves the right thing.
Speaking at a meeting between the South African and Mexican ambassadors this week, the South African ambassador explained South Africa’s plans for an inclusive and transparent COP that will be accessible to civil society. He went so far as to ask, metaphorically speaking, that civil society pull government up by the bootstraps if they show signs of failing to deliver this.
The ambassadors expressed their ambition to bring about closer relationships with civil society, the presidencies and the parties before and after UNFCCC meetings this year.
Meanwhile, the South Africans and Mexicans are working closely together to bring about a suitable outcome in Durban. The parties have just come out of intense bilaterals in Mexico around information sharing from high political-level information to logistics and the two countries plan to intensify their relationship this year to ensure consistency in the negotiations.
The ambassadors expressed the need to create a balance between the implementation of what was achieved in Cancun as well as pending issues.
South Africa intends to focus on finance and adaptation, as well as the major political issue of a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. Finance in particular is a key focus area that the transitional committee intends to move forward. To this end, South Africa has called in the talent of its ‘Top Gun’, Minister Trevor Manuel, to make sure we get the kinds of solutions we need.
In the meantime, let’s hope that negotiators can use this time in the run-up to Durban more effectively than they have in Bangkok.